Try NON-Fiction – it can be a real trip! Here are some of my recent favs from the realm of the real…

Pretty much anything by Jon Ronson[1] is a lot of fun to read and if you can listen to him read it himself – even better! He is a British journalist, and he tackles some weird topics with rare wit.

The Psychopath Test[2] – Go deep into the madness industry and see just how crazy it is. Ronson explores how we define madness, how we treat the mentally ill and how most of top CEOs are probably psychopaths.

The Men Who Stare at Goats[3] – you might have seen the movie, but the book is pretty funny! Yes. The United States military tried to create a secret unit of highly trained psychics who could kill with their minds… or something like that. It’s true! Weird, but true!

Mary Roach[4] writes books about stuff you want to know about but didn’t know you wanted to know about. Like what you would need to take on a trip to Mars, and how how much of our society we owe to dead bodies / cadavers.

Spook[5] – This book talks about the science of the afterlife; chronicles the research regarding the human soul, reincarnation and whether electromagnetic fields can make the human brain see ghosts? How much does the human soul weigh? Let’s see…

Stiff[6] - From being crash test dummies to being something someone would like to snack on, this book looks at all the ways that society uses human corpses. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny, this gives you something to think about.

Michael Pollan[7] is the guru of the organics movement, thanks to his entertaining and informative books on botany. Yes. I said, “Botany.” These books will make you think twice about your food and just how cunning apples really are.

The Botany of Desire[8] - This book is about apples (surprisingly devious!), tulips (which single-handedly destroyed the Dutch economy!) and marijuana (which has mutated into a monster of its former self!). Funny and bizarre, this book makes you reconsider your house plant (and what it might be thinking about you!).

The Omnivore’s Dilemma[9] – If you love eating McDonald’s French fries… don’t read this book. This book goes on a journey through the American food universe and what Pollan finds is not always fun to know, but it’s important… and might just keep you from mutating into some sort of deranged man-bear-pig type creature. Just sayin’…